Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced in an opinion piece he authored Austin American-Statesmen on Friday that he has introduced legislation to regulate the use of collegiate athletes’ names, images, and likenesses.
In 2021, NIL in college athletics officially launched, but not without controversy and open questions.
The senator from Texas claimed that he consulted with athletes, state school stakeholders, and other associations.
But he thinks that because every state has its own legislation, athletes might be at a disadvantage.
“College sports are a great cultural unifier, but they are in peril—not just for fans—but for thousands of student-athletes whose games won’t air on national television. . . .” Cruz wrote in the piece.
“Now, additional litigation and draft state laws are hampering the ability of the NCAA to enforce even modest rules, set recruiting standards, promote fair competition, or crack down on bad actors looking to take advantage of student-athletes. Many school administrators agree that these developments, coupled with the evolution of athlete compensation, will lead to the premature end of big-time college football and basketball at dozens of schools. More troubling, however, could be the fallout at all levels of colleges and universities: the elimination of non-revenue sports. ” he continued.
“This provision is essential to preserve the idea that student-athletes are students first and the focus remains on education. It would protect scholarship students so they could not be ‘fired’ for non-performance, and preclude the enormous financial pressure that would likely cause schools to cut non-revenue sports.” he added.
“Do we decide to take the path of creating a new federal agency and concomitant regulation of college sports, as well as the hyper-politicization that would soon follow it? Or do we want to preserve the self-governance model that Roosevelt and others chose more than 100 years ago? I prefer the latter.” he concluded.
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